Good news for those of you in Taiwan (and America, too) who can’t wait to get acquainted with HTC’s Touch, as its creator has reportedly announced that it will be deployed shortly in its “home base,” with an American launch to go down before the dawn of 2008. Peter Chou, chief executive officer at HTC, has purportedly stated that it would “only be fitting if the first country in Asia to sell the Touch was Taiwan,” and also noted that Chunghwa Telecom would be its “exclusive partner in distributing and retailing the handset” in that country. On the home front, all we know is that the Touch should indeed be found on American shelves before the year’s end, but here’s to hoping it’s closer to today than December 31st.
Read - HTC launch in Taiwan
Read - HTC launch in USA
[via engadget]
Here’s some dirt that’s sure to heat up the iPhone debates over the next 20 days. According to alleged scans from the “iPhone Sales Training Workbook,” we’re seeing a vast array of features that we were already fully aware of, but here’s the skinny on what you may have not known until now:
- No one-touch dialing (two touches at a minimum)
- Vibrate mode is included
- Voice dialing is not mentioned as a feature, though it’s not specifically excluded either
- Users can have a voice conversation whilst browsing the web “when WiFi access is available”
- iPhone users will not be able to conduct IM conversations with instant messaging users
- Emailing videos and pictures are a go, MMS is not supported
- MEdia Mail won’t be used for ringtone and answertone downloads
- MEdia Net, MobiTV, and Cellular Video are (unsurprisingly) not available for the iPhone
- iTunes will sync iPhone with the Address Book on Macs or Outlook/Outlook Expess on PCs
- No GPS or TeleNav support, sorry Google hopefuls
Read the rest of this entry »
Shown recently at Taiwan’s Computex shindig, the g-Smart i350 appears to be the most incremental of upgrades to its i300 predecessor, especially in light of the fact that the i300’s been signed up to get a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade.
Both rock a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, and integrated GPS, so it seems like the biggest boost for the i350 might be the move from a 2.4 inch QVGA to 2.6 inch VGA display (okay, we admit, that’s a pretty big difference) and the addition of a fourth band of GSM support.
We’re not sure we’re feeling the handset’s sparkly white exterior, but we suspect it’s one of those things you have to see in person before passing judgment.
[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
A reliable tipster has filled us in on a juicy secret.
The biggest update? High speed EV-DO. And a new unbelievable form factor.
If you thought the first Pearl was small, then know that the Pearl 2 will be even smaller, shaving nearly 8mm in depth and 30% of its weight to be competing with RAZRs. Still, the Pearl 2 manages to squeeze in a 2MP camera (upgraded from 1.3) and a MicroSD card.
The biggest update? High speed EV-DO.
The Pearl 2 is coming in Q4 of 2007—and it’s looking to be a worthy successor to its little brother. (That picture is not the unit, as talked about in our rumor post.)
The trackball may see some adjustments, though we have no word on specifics at this time. Overall, we’re extremely excited if the leak pans out to be true…and we’re fairly certain that it will. For now, to be safe, chalk it up as a rumor, but we’ve seen some very convicing docs that tell us it’s real. – Mark Wilson
[via gizmodo]
We’ve seen portable battery packs before, but XPower’s Xantrex MobileMinicharges two things at once. Two. That’s double the amount of things charged as one. Just FYI.
The Mobile Mini has a USB port so you can plug in just about any USB-friendly charger, like the iPod or the Zune, and has a miniUSB port so you can juice up your Windows Mobile phones as well. At $49, it’s not too expensive, especially since it charges…what was it again…oh yes, two things at once. – Jason Chen
Product Page [Prepared With Power]
So the Sharp device we thought Microsoft had accidentally leaked a day early yesterday actually looks nothing — and we mean nothing — like the actual handset, though what they ended up unveiling is still crazy cool.
The Sharp WS011SH Advanced/W-ZERO3 [es], which we believe may be the most complicated name for a phone ever conceived, is the latest in a line of Windows Mobile-sportin’ phones for Japan’s Willcom; like its predecessors, the WS011SH doesn’t disappoint, packing in Windows Mobile 6 Classic, numeric and slide-out QWERTY keypads, a 3-inch wide VGA display, WiFi, and 256MB of onboard storage with microSD expansion. And, oh yeah, it’s only 50mm wide and 17.9mm thick. Willcom customers: we hate you (not really, it’s just our extreme jealousy talking).
[Via the::unwired]
iPhone owners might be putting their treasured handsets into accessory detectin’ mode right out of the gate thanks to a plethora of accessories outed in iLounge’s iPod accessory guide, which at well over one hundred pages is pretty much the be-all, end-all bible of iPod add-ons.
As we might expect this early in the game, the goodies are strictly standard fare - cases, FM transmitters, and the like - though Belkin’s Acrylic Case (pictured) looks like a winner thanks to its ability to support the iPhone on it side for more relaxed widescreen video viewing.
Another gem is Crystal Film, which’ll cover the entire front of the device with a thin, transparent static cling layer; good idea from a protection standpoint, but we can’t help but wonder how that’s gonna affect the feel of the screen.
[via engadget]
It may not be the biggest news today out of Espoo, but Nokia has brought out a pair of very capable midrange handsets — so capable, in fact, that we’re kinda surprised Nokia is voluntarily using the term “midrange” to describe them.
The 9.5mm thick (nice!) 6500 Classic is a sleek, anodized aluminum candybar featuring a 2 megapixel camera, 1GB (yes, 1GB) of internal storage, Bluetooth, QVGA display, microUSB port for charging, audio, and data, and quadband GSM plus UMTS on the 850 and 2100MHz bands (read: compatible everywhere but the US). The 16.4mm thick 6500 Slide is — you guessed it — a slider with just a little bit more meat on its bones than the Classic, upping the cam to a Carl Zeiss autofocus 3.2 megapixel piece and including a microSD slot, integrated FM radio and TV out.
Look for both to be available in the third quarter; €320 (about $431) for the Classic and €370 (about $498) for the Slide before subsidies.
via engadget
Nokia’s newest and oft rumored “Luna” is finally getting its turn in the spotlight and oh, how it shines. This Series 40 phone features quadband GSM / EDGE, a 2 megapixel camera, translucent smoked glass slider over the keypad, and Nokia’s first use of a micro-USB port.
Of course, this isn’t just any Series 40 handset — okay, well maybe it is, unless it’s rolling with the 5th gen release — this is top of the line stuff where price is concerned and you will be paying $700 for the luxury of picking one up. The 8600 handset is crafted from stainless steel and glass — and that glass bit, plus the price, is just the ticket for lakes of giant crybaby tears if one of these guys ever hits the pavement.
No word on carrier availability yet, but with release planned for sometime in Q2, we have plenty of time to fill in those blanks. Oh yeah, check out Engadget Mobile for a full gallery!
via engadget
For a company that tends to concentrate on candybars and the occasional slider for its smartphone stable, a double shot of S60 flips in the American market is pretty much a bumper crop — and that’s exactly what Nokia’s delivering, officially announcing its own availability of the N75 and the N76 today.
Notice we say “its own” availability; the N75 has been livin’ it up in AT&T’s lineup for a few weeks now but it’s been nigh impossible to get one contract-free from the carrier, so Nokia’s direct sale is a welcome one for folks that just want to buy one outright. Side by side, the N76 solidly whips its stablemate in the looks department, but bear in mind one critical fact: 3G data lurks underneath the N75’s hood.
Pick up the N75 for $429.99 and the N76 for $499.99 starting today from Nokia (including the flagship stores in New York and Chicago) and its distributors.
via engadget
